


Code Geass: Betrayal From Within

by TowerofBabel



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Jeremiah Gottwald - Freeform, Other, The Knight of Two, The True Rulers of BRITANNIA, Zero - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22204603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TowerofBabel/pseuds/TowerofBabel
Summary: Lelouch has managed to keep his memories intact despite the Emperor's erasure and decides to join forces with Vincent Glasgow, the Knight of Two, to stop a deadly threat. However, second thoughts cross Lelouch's mind, and he decides to turn the tables on his partner in a much different way, and escapes imprisonment with his own agenda; with only Suzaku to stop him! Between S1 & S2.
Relationships: Kururugi Suzaku/Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	1. A Knight With A Conscious

**Author's Note:**

> For people wondering how I was able to post the chapters so quickly...all of these stories are already posted on FFN under the same handle, I'm merely transferring them over. I am Tower of Babel on FFN, too.

_**A laboratory inside Britannia Headquarters.** _

The Knight of Two, Vincent Glasgow, observed the scientists as they experimented on the recently decreased Jeremiah Gottwald. Well, almost decreased. The man didn't have a defeatist attitude; but Zero had destroyed his reputation which nearly crushed the man's will to live. He tried to restore it by defeating Zero in battle, but failed. Yes, Orange Boy, as he was now known by, failed miserably.

But there was no record anywhere, military or otherwise, that entitled Jeremiah Gottwald's involvement in an operation known as Orange for which Zero claimed. It was almost like the terrorist leader fabricated it to discredit the man and to cause dissention among his men. And it worked. And due to that claim, Jeremiah Gottwald was demoted. He never recovered from the shame.

Glasgow approached the glass cylinder containment tube Jeremiah Gottwald was encased in; he was floating in medical fluid. His limbs were attached to wires feed by an overhead device. He was being kept alive with an intravenous tube and a breathing mask and countless other machines. Around him were hordes of computer equipment both used to monitor his vital signs and to evaluate the continued experiment involving Gottwald. Covering his left eye was a yet unknown metallic device.

Glasgow pressed a hand to the glass and gazed at Jeremiah. Not only were the scientists preserving his mental facilities through chemical means, but they were also increasing his muscle mass like some type of super soldier, toning him. His naked body showed a tightening of every ligament.

Jeremiah was a childhood friend, and Glasgow hated to see him being treated like some rat in a cage. He was being used in yet another one of the Emperor's pet projects. But for what purpose? It wasn't fully determined. But he wanted to be involved, even in a minute manner. He had volunteered Jeremiah to be an experimental guinea pig, otherwise he'd be dead right now. And Glasgow didn't want Jeremiah to die if he could help it. But to see Jeremiah used like this brought a sourness and a guilt that would not hinder.

Glasglow turned to the head scientist, a man with a long and almost unpronounceable name, and asked simply, "When will he be done, doctor?" Not even trying to say his name.

"When he's done," the doctor replied straightly. "I won't rush genius, Glasgow. The Emperor appointed me head of this project. He knows I'll deliver results. Now back off."

Glasgow's eyes narrowed sternly. "You speak to me like that again, doctor, and you'll replace Gottwald in this experiment. Got it?"

The doctor chuckled amused. "Despite your knight status, Glasgow, I outrank you in this endeavor. You were only assigned as an observer, nothing more, nothing less. So your threats mean nothing to me." He adjusted his glasses smugly on the bridge of his nose.

Glasgow glared at the doctor. He was a thin man of average height with ruffled black hair. The doctor continuously appeared unshaven, which annoyed Glasgow. It was like the man didn't care about his appearance. For some reason, the other scientists accepted him like this. But he looked like a slob.

He hated the man's confrontational, flippant attitude. If he had an opportunity, he'd rip the man's spine out and feed it to his dog. _Every man should feel comfortable in his own skin,_ Glasgow thought, _but he should also hold in regard respect for others, even in appearance._

The doctor was nothing more than a selfish bastard. But he was correct in one regard. The Emperor had put him in charge and that trumped any order a Knight of the Round gave.

Hate filled Glasgow's eyes. "When this is over, doctor, I'll see you beg for mercy at my feet. Men like you are despicable creatures and should be left to rot in the deepest, darkest hole!" Glasgow turned to leave, his cloak whipping around as if just caught in a heavy invisible wind.

"I beg to differ. Men like me make this world, and we make the weapons you knights use to slaughter your enemies. And you're the one who volunteered your friend as a guinea pig, so don't present yourself as high and mighty to me, Glasgow." The doctor sinisterly chuckled. "And the name's Dopplegangersmythe for future reference, fool! You never could say it. Even Bismarck can say it. You must be retarded."

Glasgow stopped at the laboratory's threshold, but he didn't turn around to face him. "I'm not retarded, doctor. And trust me, I don't need to know how to pronounce your name to remember it. It's etched into my memory, as it will soon be chiseled on your tombstone."

And Glasgow left.

* * *

Lelouch vi Britannia needed a way to escape his imprisonment, but he was isolated in an unknown room in an unknown location, laying on a bed, wearing a straight jacket. Suzaku had not pulled any punches. As soon as Suzaku defeated him on Kaminejima Island, Suzaku immediately incarcerated him, then brought him before the Emperor bound in a straight jacket to be sentenced for his crimes.

_It was then my father attempted to use his Geass to wipe my memory, but he failed. My will is much stronger than he gave it credit for and my own Geass helped hinder that erasure. He tried to make me forget my sister, but I could never forget Nunnally. I only pretended to forget. Eventually, they will catch onto my ploy, but I'll play it down to make them believe they've won. And if I'm lucky, they'll release me back into the populous. Then I'll continue my vow to obliterate Britannia. My father's a fool. He could never kill me; he's too weak for that. That's why one day, he'll fall by my hands a broken and defeated man!  
_  
He tried to wiggle his way out of the straight jacket, but to no avail. However, he couldn't make any alarmist movements or it would show on the camera above the door that was pointed at him. They were monitoring him. He had made his movements as if he was merely repositioning himself sleepily, looking away from the camera. He didn't want to give himself away.

All he could do at the moment was plot and scheme his next move for when he did escape.

* * *

Vincent Glasgow, still infuriated with his most recent encounter with doctor what's-his-name, slammed a fist into a wall outside the laboratory, and made a sizable hole. But he didn't care. He removed his fist, unharmed, then walked down an adjacent corridor. He tried to pronounce the man's name, rolling it over in his mind time and again, but he continued to find it difficult.

As a child, he did have a speech impediment, he stuttered a lot, but he thought he had gotten over that. Afterwards, on occasion, when he got anxious he would stutter, but it didn't happen very often. He received help from one of the best psychotherapist's in Britannia throughout his teen years for the problem. Now, he couldn't remember the last time he had stuttered.

"Damn foreigners!" he cursed. "They're a disease to the purity of Britiannia!"

But the doctor had been born in Britannia, so he was guaranteed immediate citizenship under its birth law. He just had a longer name than usual.

However, his parents had been foreigners, and they had to earn citizenship just like everyone else applying to reside in the Great Britannian Empire. But if it wasn't for a chance encounter with the Emperor years ago, his prodigy like mind and countless earned PhD's, the doctor wouldn't be in the position he is in now. He was one of the few who had squeezed through the system, and mostly due to Nepotism.

_What the doctor is creating is a creature beyond the Natural Law of Man_ _and he's using my friend to do it,_ Glasgow thought.

He didn't know all the logistics of the project yet, not everything had been revealed to him, but he knew bringing a man back from the brink of death and experimenting on him was sick.

_But I did volunteer Jeremiah for the experiment, so what does that make me? After everything is done, they might just erase his mind and use him as a super soldier._

He shook his head. "What have I done? Jeremiah, my friend, maybe you _were_ better off dead."

_To be continued..._


	2. The True Rulers of Britannia

Regret filled Glasgow's mind. What he should have done was allow his friend Jeremiah to die with humanity dignity. Instead he agreed to subject his closest friend to an experimental nightmare that is successful could be grounds for perversity. The Emperor would duplicate the project, and then an entire army of super-soldiers could be forged. And it would be his doing.

There were times he wished he wasn't a Knight of the Round. But that was ancient history. Things can't be changed; he was the Knight of Two, and he had to live with his decision to be one of the elite. Putting blame where it doesn't belong on others wasn't he did, he took credit were it was due but he also took blame when he was at fault. Although he masked blame with leadership decisions which reverted blame back into fault of those under his command.

He crossed a jog in a corridor, his mind was wandering. Back to happier times where he and Jeremiah engaged in drinking games when they were mere soldiers. Glasgow always won. Jeremiah was never left standing at the end. One time, Jeremiah got so drunk he accidentally vomited on the shoes of a commanding officer. Luckily, their commanding officer was an understand man. In fact, as a result, their commanding officer, due to Jeremiah's lost, won a thousand dollars betting on the drinking game.

Glasgow stopped short when he saw the newest addition to the Knights of the Round - the so-called traitor to the Japanese people as Eleven's were calling him - Suzaku Kururuigi. The guy was standing alone. The expression on his face, even from this distance, looked like that of annoyance and possibly regret. _I hear he's was pretty emotional._ Glasgow knew all about Kururuigi's history. All the elite's did.

The story was Kururuigi had brought in the terrorist known as Zero, who turned out to be the eleventh prince of Britannia, seventeen year old Lelouch vi Britannia.

Lelouch was fighting to establish the USJ (the United States of Japan), but even with aid from other countries such as finance, he couldn't do it alone, so he assembled his own personal army, the Black Knights. Luck didn't play in his favor, and whether due to unforeseen circumstances or over-confidence, he was taken down by the White Knight, Suzaku Kururigi, piloting the advanced Mecha Lancelot, designed by Britannia's science departmant.

Lelouch's reasons for his defiance was revenge. Not only for his mother's death at the hand of his father but also the Emperors disownment of him. His younger sister Nunnally was blinded and crippled during the assassination attack on his Lelouch's mother, for whom he also blames his father for.

_Remarkable,_ Glasgow thought admirably. _At such a young age, a boy of seventeen was able to muscle up that much influence to challenge Britannia, at least for a few months. In the end, Suzaku, according to his dossier, who happened to be a childhood friend of Lelouch's, betrayed him, and presented Lelouch before the Emperor for punishment. For his loyalty, he was made one of the echelon, a Knight of the Round. It's an amazing accomplishment. I can see why Suzaku's branded a traitor to Japan._

Suzaku was only seventeen, the youngest Knight of the Round ever. When Glasgow became a Knight of the Round, he was twenty. At the time, he had been the youngest. Glasgow was in his late twenties now and he could see a lot of himself in Suzaku.

Although, Suzaku didn't look very happy. And Glasgow could understand why. He had to betray his best friend in order to get to where he was. But for a person who had killed his own father, what sort of personality did Suzaku have? Was he a sociopath? Did he have a hidden duel-personality that he could switch on and off like a soldier? Friend or foe, Glasgow wanted to know more about Suzaku Kururigi.

He thought about striking up a conversion with the newest Knight of the Round. Glasgow hadn't introduced himself. They had passed each other several times in corridors at head quarters, but no words were ever spoken. But before he got that chance, Suzaku turned and entered an adjacent corridor, and disappeared. _Perhaps next time,_ Glasgow thought.

Glasgow's thoughts returned to Jeremiah Gottwald.

Glasgow and Jeremiah had entered the Academy together, but afterwards they went their separate ways with different fields of interest. Gottwald rose the ranks to become a brilliant military field commander of a Knightmare Frame Mecha unit. It was an amazing accomplishment.

However, nepotism was Glasgow's niche. He entered the Intelligence section after graduating from the Academy. He was a damn good Knightmare Frame pilot, but Bismarck, who at that time was the Knight of Five, and was a very close friend of the family, used his influence within Britannia, to make Glasgow the Knight of Two when Bismarck became the Knight of One.

_It helps to have allies in high places._

* * *

Vincent Glasgow entered the empty conference room from which Suzaku Kururigi had exited and found a monitoring station of nine television on one wall. On one of the screens was an image of the little terrorist leader, Lelouch vi Britannia. He was laying sideways on a cot in a white straight jacket in a prison cell in D-Block. He was one of many in that section.

For a moment, Glasgow felt sorry for the boy. Lelouch had a brilliant mind. If only he'd used it for Britannia. _A school boy, a simple school boy caused this much trouble for Britannia. But you aren't just simple, Lelouch vi Britannia, are you. You have a gift. And I'm not just referring to your intelligence._

Lelouch had been trying to do something noble. His father, the 98th Britiannian Empire, had invaded Japan mercilessly, and Lelouch was trying to give it back to its people. But appearances can be deceptive, and with closer investigation of battle records on the Black Knights, and Zero, it became painfully obvious Lelouch's true motivation was nothing but noble. And if it wasn't for Suzaku, he would've succeeded.

Glasgow crossed his arms across his chest and watched the little Prince for several minutes on screen. Curiosity drove Glasgow to observe Lelouch, it was also a method of gathering Intel. And Lelouch vi Britannia was an exciting subject.

* * *

Glasgow entered D-Block of the Britannian prison complex deep underneath headquarters. It was a dang and rudimentary place, filled with bad lighting and even worse smells. There were few guards on duty. With electro-magnetic sealants on the doors, it was impossible for prisoners to escape. Beside each cell was a slot for a tray of food to be placed. Inside the cells was toilet completely exposed to the open corridors. The doors were more electro-magnetic bars that if touched would electrify anyone instantly.

Glasgow paced down the corridor. D-Black was the isolationist wing of the prison complex and Lelouch vi Britannia was in the last cell. A guard stood next to the door of Lelouch's cell. Hardly needed, the Emperor must have ordered him to stand there. Lelouch was a dangerous person. But with all the security procedures in place to supersede escape, a guard was not required.

Nevertheless, it would not be a problem. Glasgow wanted to speak with Lelouch. Being a Knight of the Round, he had that privilege. Lelouch was a political prisoner and the Knights of the Round had authority to interrogate anyone they pleased by any means necessary. But after what the Emperor had done to Lelouch, maybe it would not be required.

The guard saluted Glasgow. Glasgow returned the salute but in a casual manner. "I want to speak with the prisoner," he demanded.

The guard seemed confused. "I was ordered not to allow anyone inside. Emperor's orders."

"I'm Vincent Glasgow, the Knight of Two, I speak for the Emperor when he's not present, and I have authority in such cases to such allowances. Let me in, now."

The guard saluted again without disagreement and took an key card from his belt and swiped it across an electro-magnetic lock that disengaged the electro-bars. The bars vanished as the energy to them shut off.

Glasgow entered the cell and looked at Lelouch for a moment observing him. The boy appeared to be sleeping, turned towards the wall on the cot. But when Glasgow was observing him on the monitors before deciding to visit the prison block, he had already learned the boy was being deceptive. He was trying to wiggle free of his restraints at one point.

Glasgow turned to the guard. "Take a walk, that's an order," he demanded.

"But sir, I was ordered -"

Glasgow gave the guard a lopsided grin, playing it calm, despite his annoyance at continuously being questioned. "The kid's no longer a threat, right? Besides, he's wearing a straight jacket. I'll be perfectly safe."

The guard nodded, saluted, handed over the key card, and then left.

Glasgow was now completely alone with the most influential but feared person in the world. He stood in silence over the boy for a moment observing him, almost admirably. "You can stop pretending, boy, I know you're not sleeping. Turn over and look at me."

Lelouch turned over, and he looked at Glasgow. There was a look of distain in his eyes, a deep hatred, as if Glasgow's tone of voice had triggered such a response. However, he couldn't blame the boy for his reaction.

"So the great Zero is a child," Glasgow said.

"Whatever do you mean?" Lelouch sat up. His arms were bound within the straight jacket across his chest. He wiggled to get back into reasonable comfort despite his restraint.

"Don't play coy with me, boy," Glasgow replied. "Your eyes tell a different story. They hold contempt for Britiannia. I know that look well. You're not the first Britiannian to hate the nation of his birth, and I fear you won't be the last. But like all others, they were silenced. You may not know me, but I certainly know you."

Glasgow recited Lelouch's entire dossier, from birth to present, including family and friends, education, residence, his plight as Zero, the Black Knights and associates, all from memory.

Lelouch smirked as if amused.

"Why do you smile like that, boy?" asked Glasgow. "Oh, did I forget to mention Geass and C2? It must have slipped my mind for a brief moment." Glasgow chuckled, and Lelouch frowned. "Obviously the Emperor's erasure of your memories didn't work. In a way, I'm glad. This way we can talk."

Lelouch didn't say anything for a moment. "About what? Vincent Glasgow, the Knight of Two. You should be the one imprisoned, not me. You and your family are the real butchers of Japan, and all for a personal vendetta against Prime Minister Genbu Kururuigi. I also do my homework."

Glasgow smiled amused. "Very impressive, Lelouch vi Britannia. But, let me to fill in some missing information you're obviously not aware of. If it wasn't for your friend Suzaku, Japan would've been spared this war. He murdered his own father and it was blamed on Britannia. Thus, the Japanese people rose up and the conflict began."

"I already now that."

Glasgow nodded. "Of course. I imagine if Britannia hadn't attacked Japan, you would never have met C2 and received your Geass and you wouldn't be here now."

"What's your point?"

"I can see your eye twitching. You're probably wondering why you can't use your Geass on me. I'm wearing a Geass inhibitor. It was designed by our Special Intelligence Branch. We've been aware of Geass for some time." He patted a piece of jewelry on his jacket in the design of the Britannia Empire emblem.

Lelouch snorted annoyed. "What do you want?" he said contemptuously.

Glasgow brows arched annoyed. "I've temporarily looped a recording of this room so we can have a conversion, the least you can do is be courteous. It might be to you advantage."

"I'm in a straight jacket, locked up in a jail cell; how friendly and courteous to you want me to be?" Lelouch said snidely.

Glasgow reached behind the boy and released the binds, taking off the straight jacket. Lelouch moved away from Glasgow to the other side of the cell, and rubbed his arching arms. Glasgow stood at the cell door.

"Why?" was all Lelouch said.

"A temporary reprieve, the jacket will go back on after we're finished talking."

"So what do I own this visitation? Have you come to interrogate me some more?"

"It's staggering. You youth have no sense of gratitude these days," said Glasgow. A piercing gaze met Glasgow, and he laughed. Glasgow stepped aside. "There's the door. Flee if you want, but you won't get far. And I'll just blame your escape on your friend, Suzaku. He'll be executed for being a traitor. I'm sure the Japanese people would love that. They already brand him one."

"And why would I care about that?" Lelouch said. "I hate him."

"You're so transparent, Lelouch vi Britannia. I know the history between you two. Your friendship is much tighter than you realize. He may have challenged you, defeated you, presented you before the Emperor, betrayed you, but despite it all, you still consider him a friend - mainly for his morality. I think you believe one day, Suzaku will see the light and join you in your cause."

"He would never do that. He's loyal to Britannia."

"The façade of people can change over time. You of all people know this to be true."

"Suzaku took everything away from me!"

"What if you can get it all back and more?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Emperor has your sister. I'm sure you'll want her back. The Emperor chose to erase your memory so you would continue to live. Your father isn't completely malicious. He cares for all his children, even if he doesn't show it. What is your reason for your hate?" He asked purely for an out-spoken response from Lelouch.

"He banished me and my sister from the kingdom, tolerating us only for my mother's sake. He had our mother killed, and crippled Nunnally. That is why I vow to bring down Britannia! I hate my father!"

"Revenge is a noble cause, but in the end, totally futile. Your father gave you another chance, a life as a commoner as punishment for your rebellious intentions. No one challenges Britannia. But obviously he failed in his erasure of your memories. He underestimated your will is strong, that could have been an unforeseeable factor. This I think is a blessing in disguise."

"And why is that?"

"Because now you can do something for me," Glasgow said. "I have very influential friends, some of which go higher than even your father. And with word from them, I could get all your charges dropped and you can go free. Nunnally will be returned to you as well."

"How is that possible? There's no one more powerful in Britannia than my father."

"Obviously there are things you don't know. The Aristocracy, for which my family is of the highest order, can supersede your father. My grandfather made your father the man he is today with cunning and influence. My family are true rulers of Britannia."

"So then why isn't your family ruling Britannia instead?"

"That will stay my secret for now. But I will say this, it has to do with one of your father's allies, a short fellow with long white hair, I don't know his name. He gave your father Geass, and it has remained an overwhelming staunch over my family ever since."

"So why tell me? How do you know I won't tell someone?"

"If you do, I'll kill you."

"Once my father learns I've retained my memories, he'll try again, and forgetting my sister will be like my death. I'd rather die than forget my sister."

Glasgow took a deep breath. "Then how about this, I'll help you escape, and in exchange, you help me with something."

Lelouch looked amused. He returned to the cot, and leaning back against the wall, crossed one leg over the other, and crossed his arms across his chest, as if he was in control of the conversion now. "And how, prey-tell, do you intend to pull that off, and what would I have to do to make such a grandiose feat happen?"

"You leave the details to me. You just be ready. And for your payment, call it a contract if you will, you will be free to return to your old life with all your memories intact and your sister by your side. But if you don't do what I tell you, not only will I have the Emperor erase your memory, but I'll also have him erase your sister's. Despite her blindness, she's still very much susceptible to the power of Geass."

"You touch her and I'll kill you."

"Your threatens are meaningless," said Glasgow, mimicking the same thing doctor dopple-something-something said to him. "You accomplish what I ask, and I'll guarantee her safety."

Glasgow stood steady, hindering a smile as he could see the young man mulling the deal in his mind. Lelouch was staring at him, his look that of malice and hate. But he could see the wheels of thought churning. His face muscles were twitching. Most likely he was thinking about all possible scenarios, pros and cons of engaging in their contract. People like Lelouch were prodigy, strategic thinkers. No wonder he gave Britannia a difficult time as Zero.

But Glasgow knew Lelouch had no options other to accept.

"Very well, I agree to your terms," said Lelouch. Glasgow sensed by the tone of the teen's reply that he was annoyed. He was the kind of person who hated not being in complete control. And not he was the whims of an equal opponent. "What do you want me to do?" Lelouch asked.

"I want you to kill someone for me. I know that won't be a problem for you. I'll make all the preparations. All you have to do is execute this person."

"Who do you want me to kill?"

Glasgow didn't speak for a moment, as if he was summoning up the courage to say what he needed to say. "A friend of mine. Jeremiah Gottwald."

"I know that name," Lelouch said.

"You should, you branded him a separatist within Britannian, virtually destroying his reputation. You nick named him Orange Boy."

Lelouch laughed heartedly. "Oh, him. Yes, now I remember."

"Near death, I brought him here. Now he's being augmented to destroy the rebels in Zero's absence." Glasgow paused for a moment, then said, "Tell me something, Lelouch vi Britannia, and answer honestly. Was there ever an Operation Orange?"

Lelouch laughed again. "No, I made it up. It was a strategic ploy at the time."

"I thought so. It doesn't matter anyway. I want you to kill him."

"And how will I accomplish that? I'm a prisoner."

"I told you leave that to me. I know the surveillance system of the prison complex, and when needed, I can have loyal men at my disposal to assist you. You just watch for my signal."

"Very well," Lelouch said. "But if you harm my sister in anyway, I'll kill you."

Glasgow laughed amused. "Now here's the plan…"

_To be continued..._


	3. Dirty White Lies

Lelouch offered to bide his time.

After their secret conversion, he had come to believe Vincent Glasgow's honourable intentions to help him escape if Lelouch agreed to his terms. So, after the Knight of Two had his say, Lelouch willfully allowed himself to be strapped back into the straight jacket and the live camera feed to his prison cell was turned back on.

Now he had to play the innocent brainwashed prisoner until he was freed. Waiting, he could do. He had had many years of waiting to strike back at his father for what he had done to Lelouch, Nunnally and their mother. With Geass, he had had the power. But now with the introduction of Geass inhibitors by the upper echelon, his Geass would not work on those who wore them.

With the power of Geass came enemies even turncoat friends like Suzaku Kururugi. He knew Suzaku was watching him on the surveillance cameras, he could feel the traitor's eyes on him from afar. They had shared many moments over the years like a psychic link and they also shared their consciousnesses on the battlefield within the power of Geass. They were connected unlike anyone else. And Lelouch knew the deep dark secret Suzaku held in his heart — that he had murdered his father to save Japan from war. But it was all for naught and Japan was plunged into war and it became just another colony of Britannia.

The door to his cell slid open and a nondescript looking soldier in a dark uniform came in with what Lelouch could only guess was a food tray with a white cloth over top. The soldier put the tray on the floor and then proceeded to leave. Lelouch was still bound in the straight jacket.

"Excuse me, but how Am I supposed to eat with my arms bound?" Lelouch asked.

The soldier turned, and said, "That's not my problem, Prisoner 119. I'm only delivering the food. I won't help you eat it. You can crawl on your stomach and use your tongue for a spoon for all I care."

Suddenly Suzaku stood at the threshold of the prison door in his white Knight attire. Lelouch would play the innocent prisoner to his childhood friend as Glasgow told him to do if he wanted to keep his memories intact, but he hated Suzaku's guts. It was difficult, but not impossible. After all, he played the part of Zero for better part of a year.

"You were rude, soldier," Suzaku said annoyed. "Apologize to the prisoner now."

"Yes, my Lord," the soldier said nervously. "Forgive my rudeness, Prisoner 119. I'll unbound you, if Sir Kururugi so wishes it?"

"No, soldier, I'll take care of the prisoner's needs. You are dismissed."

The soldier saluted and left.

Suzaku stood staring at Lelouch for a moment as Lelouch sat on the bed, cocked his head as if to wager a thought, then stepped fully into the cell. The door closed behind him.

It was time to play the greatest role of his life, Lelouch thought.

"Suzaku, I'm glad to see you," Lelouch said.

"How are you, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked.

"Other than a little bored and confused, I'm okay."

"Confused?"

"Yeah," Lelouch smiled. "Like in why I'm here? This hotel service is awful."

Suzaku smiled thinly at the joke. "You mean you really don't remember?"

"Remember? What should I remember? What's happening, Suzaku? And why are you dressed like that? Did Shelly talk the Council into having another fancy dress party? I'm Vice President and I was never told! Being cooped up in here, I can see why."

Suzaku's demeanour lightened and he smiled, the act was working like a charm.

You're so stupid, Suzaku. The innocent fools are always the easiest to trick. You betrayed me to the Emperor so you could join the Knights of the Round. So, I'll use our friendship to coax you into a false sense of security.

Suzaku began to unbound him, and Lelouch felt good to stretch his arms.

"So what's on the menu? Military food rations?"

"Let's see…" Suzaku retrieved the food tray and put it in between them on the bed. Then he lifted the cloth, but instead of food there was a pistol.

Lelouch thought quickly. This was either incredibly foolish of Glasgow having the soldier bring him a pistol instead of fool or incredibly bold. Then a nagging thought struck Lelouch. In the short time he spoke with Glasgow, he wasn't the kind of man who would do something this stupid. Therefore, it was a test.

Nice try, Suzaku. But I saw right through your trickery.

Lelouch backed away, acting shocked. Suzaku's expression was a curious stare, as if he was attempting to read Lelouch's reaction and intention. Interrogation officers did this when they wanted to know the truth. Expressions told a better truth than words. If Lelouch had reached for the pistol, then Suzaku would know the Emperor failed to erase his memories of the White Knights and Zero. He had to give his friend credit with this.

"What is this? Where's the food?" He played utter shock. He knew how to play to an audience in his in time being the innocent student at school while keeping his real emotions in check in how much he was disgusted with Britannia. Now that talent came in handy.

Suzaku took the pistol in hand. "You really are telling the truth, Lelouch, otherwise you've grabbed for it." Lelouch stared at Suzaku blankly. "The Emperor thought something amiss, but I guess this confirms he was mistaken. Forgive me for the trick, but this was his idea."

"Weird trick, if you ask me." Lelouch shook his head. "So, where's the food? I'm hungry."

Suzaku smiled. He looked at ease. Lelouch had convinced him. "I'll have some real food sent without delay." He rose to his feet with the pistol lowered. "Oh, by the way, your sister sends her regards."

Lelouch's left eye twitched with absolute anger and hatred, but luckily it was out of sight of Suzaku. One of the last things the Emperor send before he tried to erase Lelouch of his memories was he would erase every ounce of Nunnally and Suzaku was privy to that. This was cruel even for Suzaku.

One day I'll kill you, Suzaku, I swear it!

Lelouch forced his anger deep down. Suzaku was watching him. "Who?" Lelouch did have the hint of some of the Emperor's brainwashing, shadowy parts, and recalled that Nunnally was supposed to be replaced with an operative poising as a younger brother. He couldn't remember his name, however. "I've never had a sister, Suzaku, you know that," he said, lying. "I have a little brother."

Lelouch closed his eyes continuing the act. "I must be dreaming. Nothing makes sense right now. Being a prisoner, you, dressed up like someone from a modern battalion movie, this trick with pistol instead of food, and now you giving regards from my sister that doesn't exist…" He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling in dreamily wonderment, playing the dramatic actor. "Maybe it's not me, maybe it's you, Sazaku, and you need a good sleep. Maybe you're playing some elaborate trick on me for a misdemeanour I've long forgotten about? Did the rest of the Council put you up to this because you're a member of the military? You know a lot of soldiers and the military has so many resources for a trick of this size. Even that rude soldier is a part of it, right? He has to be."

Suzaku looked at the camera in the upper corner of the room, and sighed. He turned back and smiled. "I'm sorry, Lelouch," he said. "I had to be sure."

"Sure of what?"

"All this deception," Suzaku said, "friends are not supposed to do this each other. I'll see what I can do to get you of here quickly. I'm glad things are…okay."

"I don't even know why I'm here. Trick or not!"

"I'll explain everything later." Suzaku opened the cell door. "See you later, okay?"

"Sure, okay."

Then Suzaku left without restraining Lelouch — just as Lelouch planned.

____________________________________________

Vincent Glasgow viewed the entire interaction via the surveillance system between Lelouch and Suzaku from a remote source live, and he was impressed with Lelouch's acting skills. He played the "innocent" prisoner role perfectly.

"Excellent Lelouch, you played Kururugi perfectly," he said. "He almost had you when he mentioned your sister, but you didn't fall for his trickery. I commend you." Glasgow leaned back in his chair. "Phase One is complete. You successfully convinced Suzaku that the Emperor brainwashed you as we planned, even at erasing your memories of your sister — I know how much that may have wounded you to deny her, seeing how much you care for Nunnally.

"Now it's time for Phase Two…and the assassination of Jeremiah Gottwald."

_To be continued…_


	4. Discovery Attack

Night fell on the Area 11 Britannia District Branch and with it came a welcome quietude. Wars and small skirmishes were the norm in Area 11, but ever since the defeat of Zero, a new push by Britannia finally gained them the upper hand with new confidence. But even without him, the White Knights were still choosing to fight and die for their cause despite it being a futile effort.

But tonight, only to a skeleton crew watched the CCTV and walked the grounds with Vincent Glasgow being Watch Commander, so all was in readiness for his plan to proceed.

Lelouch remained free of restrains in his cell. He had had played the perfect innocent prisoner and had convinced Suzaku that the Emperor successfully brainwashed him of all memory in being Zero, the White Knights, of his mother, and his sister Nunnally. He wasn't a master manipulator for nothing.

Lelouch slept or he pretended. Glasgow watched him via CCTV in the lounge on a portable remote device he held in his hand connected to the base computers with filters so no one detected his access. Suzaku had just left the Lounge; they had made small talk about military issues, but nothing important. Without the White Knights, there was little to talk about when it came to military manners. It was almost boring. The Honorary Britannian was a good, but soft hearted fellow, but he often moped over the littlest things, so Glasgow spent little time with him. He hated ill-confident people.

The Knights of the Round knew of Suzaku's past association with Lelouch, their childhood friendship and Suzaku betraying his own people to rise the ranks. Glasgow knew the guilt of it all this was weighing on his mind, it was obvious. Some people hide their pain, but it was written all over Suzaku's face. Suzaku and Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three, had apparently befriended one another, and Gino, in his own way, had taken an unusual liking to Suzaku. But the two were polar opposites on the emotional compass. So Glasgow didn't see the friendship between them. Gino had attempted on a couple of occasions to help Suzaku with his depression issues. However, while that was all good, Glasgow didn't much care for the youngest Knight. He had betrayed his friend to the Empire and betrayal was a sin to Glasgow.

Glasgow had his own interests at the moment, however, and as he watched Lelouch on the small portable device in hand, he knew his plan was going to work. He knew the boy prince knew a Discovery Attack when he saw one, just like in chess. One moment you draw your opponent into a false sense of security, then you strike with an attack he never saw coming.

In preparation, Glasgow made a looped video of Lelouch's cell to play on the CCTV. If anyone outside the monitoring room checked on him, they would see all was normal. Then after the second phase of his plan began and Lelouch escaped his cell, cameras along his path to the laboratory where Jeremiah Gottwald was being housed would shut off to not track Lelouch.

As per the plan, Lelouch would make his way to the lab and murder Jeremiah by set means. Glasgow vowed Britannia would not use his friend for some sick and twisted, augmented cybernetics experiment, stripping away his humanity and replacing it with militaristic programming. What he was about to do, would be his final gift of friendship to Jeremiah Gottwald.

All Glasgow had to do was remove one element for his plan to begin, and that were the guards watching the CCTV in the monitoring room. And that was about to happen now.

He stood up and walked out of the Lounge, made one stop to an out of the way kitchen, picked up a tray of chilled foodstuffs in a fridge covered by a cloth, and then walked down the corridor and to the monitoring room.

He stepped to the door, breathed a sigh, opened the door, and then stepped in with the tray. He was known for his kind-heartedness and he would use this to his advantage. Two guardsmen were inside; one of them had his feet up on a counter before Glasgow walked in. Both jumped to their feet and saluted.

The lounging guard stuttered an apology, but Glasgow waved it off.

"At ease, gentlemen," he said. "I know how boring it is to watch monitors for hours on end, I was a soldier once too. So, I brought you some snacks. I am the Knight of Two, but that doesn't mean I have to be arrogant and the self-righteous type like the others." He smiled.

"This is very kind of you, my Lord," the younger of the two said.

Glasgow put the tray on a table in the centre of the room and removed the cloth, and the two guards began to partake in the snacks of cheese, crackers and other assortments Glasgow has prepared, very thankfully.

But Glasgow declined any of it when the guards asked for him to join them. He told them it was all for them. And the guards ate heartedly. The older of the two mentioned he had not eaten all day because of his previous, vigorous duties, so he was glad for some downtime tonight and good food.

Once they had eaten a sufficient amount, Glasgow frowned, and then he said, "I'm terribly sorry, my friends, this isn't personal, but my plan must be flawless, and if I am to be abstained from any wrongdoing, no witnesses."

The younger guard gave Glasgow a curious look. "Sir?"

Suddenly he put his hands to his stomach and began to heave, and vomited everything he had just eaten. He collapsed to the ground like a crumbled ball. And with a wide-eyed look, gazed up at Glasgow in shock and awe as he took his last breath. His mouth opened Why. The older guard followed suit.

And in less than a minute, they were both dead from the poisoned food.

He hated killing these men, they were loyal soldiers of Britannia, but it had to be done for a greater good, and it had to add weight to his hidden agenda that an assassin killed Jeremiah Gottwald proper.

Glasgow went to the main computer and inserting a memory stick into a slot, he activated its program. The monitors began to loop a pre-arranged video, a pre-recorded one with Lelouch still in his cell and sleeping lasting a minute.

Glasgow pressed a button on the panel and spoke into the microphone connected with the camera in Lelouch's cell; he knew the kid was listening, faking asleep. The monitor in front of Glasgow played the looped video, but his remote device had an encrypted live feed.  
"Go Lelouch, everything is where I said it will be. You know the plan. Now kill Jeremiah, and then you'll be allowed to leave without incident…"

* * *

Lelouch's eyes snapped open and he rolled off the bed. Almost on cue, his cell door unlocked and he raced out into the corridor. Now he had to get down to the designated laboratory Glasgow spoke about and kill Jeremiah Gottwald before anyone realized he was gone. And that included Suzaku.

According to Glasgow's plan, video surveillance was being looped with previous recorded footage, so anyone checking the CCTV would see that everything was normal, even Suzaku, unless he personally came down to the prison level and checked on him. But Suzaku wouldn't do that. Lelouch had convinced him the Emperor's brainwashing had worked.

Lelouch made his way down an empty corridor to an elevator, got in, waited for the door to shut, then removed a floor access panel, where Glasgow had put a pistol and a miniature explosive device to blow up the lab. The plan was to remove any scientists on duty, set the timer to destroy the lab, and then escape in a Burai in the Hanger Bay with its memory stick and access code.

That was the plan anyway. But something struck Lelouch wrong. While he believed Vincent Glasgow cared for his friend, why would he risk everything just to do this? Obviously an investigation would ensue and someone would have to be blamed for the Emperor's new pet project being destroyed.

It was simple. Glasgow was using him as a lackey to do his dirty work. But that was suitable, as long as Lelouch got what he wanted.  
He took the elevator down to the labs level and when the door opened, he cautiously peered out into the corridor. He saw all the lab door locks in the corridor had green lights and this indicated they were unlocked. Accessing only one lab would be suspicious, but if all the labs were open it would indicate an issue with the locks. Lelouch thought that was a good idea.

No one was about, so he made his way to Lab 7 where Jeremiah Gottwald was being housed. Once inside, the lab was filled with a multitude of computer equipment and the sleeping floating body of Jeremiah Gottwald in a liquid solution and encased in a transparent capsule attached to his body, the capsule power generated by couplings and wires top and bottom.

The room was dimly illuminated and no scientists were around. It was in the middle of the night and Lelouch supposed the equipment could be monitored remotely. So it was just him and "Orange Boy", as Lelouch once labeled Gottwald on the battlefield that eventually ruined his career. The name meant nothing, but a true strategist throws a little suspicion into weak-minded fools for chaos to ensue and that is exactly what happened. Gottwald was ousted.

Zero had ruined Gottwald's career and life.

Lelouch was not stupid. Even a Level 1 Chess Master saw the endgame, and he was not going to play Glasgow's game. It was time to change it.

He put a hand to the glass capsule. He said, "I find it curious that with such an important experiment, no one is on duty…" _This feels wrong, and I know why. It's a trap._ "I don't have a problem with killing the enemy, but I dislike deception and nefariousness." Time for my own Discovery Attack.

Lelouch backed away.

"I don't murder mercilessly or the defenceless," he proclaimed. "I am Zero, the destroyer of worlds, but I am not a cold-blooded murderer." He looked at the bomb in his hand. "Two can play this game. I'm not easily fooled."

Lelouch gazed smartly at a camera in the lab and smirked, then left.

But before he got too far down the corridor with gun and bomb in hand, there was a screech over the sound system and then something resounded over the speakers like the voice of God. " _WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? KILL JEREMIAH GOTTWALD NOW! WE HAD A DEAL, LELOUCH!_ "

Lelouch looked up at a camera, gazed directly into its iris, and said, "Change of plans, Glasgow. Do you own dirty work, I don't kill without reason."

Lelouch aimed and fired at the camera, destroying it.

He knew Glasgow would be able to track him via other cameras as he made his way to the hanger bay, but he didn't care. He had tricked the fool into releasing him with the promise of a partnership, just like he did with Suzaku, and he had fallen for it. They were both idiots.

He knew how to play his opponents and expose their weaknesses. Glasgow was too trusting.

He was Zero, after all.

Lelouch took the stairs instead of the elevator to avoid Glasgow trapping him.

_To be continued…_


	5. Betrayed

Vincent Glasgow was furious. He had planned everything perfectly, even down to the second, only to have this arrogant brat betray him! And once it was learned Lelouch escaped his cell, an investigation would ensue. He had hoped to avoid any trouble. Once everything was done, and Lelouch had completed his task, Glasgow would recapture him and blame Lelouch for everything. It was full proof, and no one would ever suspect him. But he had not planned for this contingency. He never expected such utter betrayal. Lelouch had played him instead like a Chess Master, delivering his own Discovery Attack.

"You little bastard!" he shouted at his portable device, as he switched feeds and watched the little prince make his way to the hanger bay. Lelouch had taken the stairs; Glasgow could easily lock the stairwell doors, but Lelouch had a fully charged pistol and would blast the locks, and it would sound the complex klaxons. Glasgow wanted to settle this quietly. He didn't want anyone to know of his betrayal from within.

He removed the memory stick with all the pre-programmed information to run the CCTV computer and smashed it underfoot. He would blame the guards' deaths on Lelouch at a later time, but now he had to catch up to Lelouch and kill him before he could say anything to anyone.

He ran out into the corridor with pistol in hand.

__________________________________________________________________

Suzaku couldn't sleep. His mind raced with usual thoughts and of shadows and demons, sinister agendas, and everything in between. Or it may just be anxiety, he thought, in how he tricked Lelouch.

Both the pistol in his cell and the deception it attempting to get a reaction out of Lelouch when he mentioned Nunnally was all his idea, not the Emperor' it continued to bother him how he so fluently betrayed his friend and turned Lelouch over to the Emperor for punishment.

Suzaku figured he had been was running on hatred over Lelouch murdering Euphemia in cold blood on stage during an Area 11 gathering after he had used Geass on her, forcing her to kill Eleven's in the crowd, in some sort of coup or statement against Britannia.  
But in recollection, it didn't make sense. If Zero was fighting for the United States of Japan to rise to power, why kill a staunch supporter from Britannia? Euphemia was his fresh and blood, same father but different mother.

But that was here nor there.

In punishment for his transgressions against Britannia, Lelouch had his memory erased by the Emperor of his former life. In reward, Suzaku asked to be a Knight of the Round. To look at Lelouch and to know that Suzaku knew how much his friend had lost was a pain worse than death for him, including never again to mention Nunnally. To lose a loved one in death is one thing, but to lose them in memory is even worse.

While he was glad to have his old friend back, Suzaku was saddened that it had had come to this. And now, for the rest of Suzaku's life, he would have to lie to both Lelouch and Nunnally, neither one to ever to see the other again for the Emperor's brainwashing to remain intact.

It was said, certain sights and smells can trigger a lost memory, and for this reason, the Emperor had appointed a loyal Britannian Special Forces member to pose as Lelouch's fake younger brother. Suzaku disliked the idea, and the member. But if Lelouch ever remembered his past, or in being Zero, then this Special Forces member would have to do the unthinkable to protect Britannia and Area 11 from the second coming of Zero and the White Knights.

But Nunnally was smart. She loved her brother and was no fool. Despite blind and in a wheelchair from a childhood accident, she could see things that no person with eyes could, and that meant lairs. Lairs give off certain reverberations in their voice, he had been told, when they told lies. Some habitual lairs or sociopaths can overcome this, but he was neither, and every time he went to see Nunnally, he had to bring a sharp object to squeeze in hand that drew blood to force him to concentrate on his lies.

But it was beginning to take a heavy toil and his hand throbbed every day, even when he felt no pain. It was psychological, mostly.  
Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Time, from time-to-time, attempted to cheer him up, and relate certain life lessons to him; one of which was during a boxing match; but Suzaku always found himself reverting back to his old, depressive self. Was he moping? Some would say so. But he was human with a conscious for good. And he hated to see both his friends treated like this.

But then again, it was for a greater good. Or at least that is what he kept telling himself. Day by day, he was becoming better at it. Someday, the pain would subside, and he knew he would become just like all the other Knights of the Round.  
And he dreaded that day.

In becoming an Honorary Britannian, he said he would try to change the bigotry of Britannia against the Japanese from the inside, work within the system. But he knew it was a long road, and now the road seemed even longer, especially when the Japanese now considered him a traitor.

He lay in bed in his quarters and looked at his hand, the mark and ache in the middle of his palm was a constant reminder of how much he was a hypocrite to his father's teachings. He had sinned so much to get to where he was today and he even killed his own father to stop a bloody conflict with Britannia, but that happened regardless of his good intentions.

And maybe, he wondered, all this "sin" on his mind was causing a bout of insomnia? Could it be simply stress? A man without a conscious slept well, experts said. So, if he was restless, did that make him a good person even with all the bad things he had done? Was it this conflict that prevented him from choosing a side in this war? He worked for the enemy, but he still loved the Japanese people and hoped they were free one day. A great man once said, "Don't be a great man, just be a man, and let history decide." If that were true, then he was the biggest traitor this world had known.

He rolled out of bed, knowing sleep would not come, and after he got dressed in some civilian clothes, decided to take a walk. Maybe a stroll down the empty corridors of the base would settle his racing thoughts. And maybe, he would look in on Lelouch and bring peace to his mind. The good times they had, the fun moments with the school Council, and everything in between.

Arthur slept, lucky cat.

But he wouldn't disturb his friend. With his memories erased of all conflict and hatred, Lelouch was probably sleeping like a baby. So observing him from the prison monitoring station would do just fine. He knew there were two guards inside and they would have no issue with him watching the prisoner via the CCTV for a few minutes.

He walked like a person with stuff on his mind and time went in an instant whereas it would normally take him a few minutes to make his way to the monitoring station, but as soon as he reached the room, he found the door mysteriously open, and he gasped when he saw the two guards dead inside. Their mouths were filled with vomit, as if they were poisoned.

He didn't have his weapon with him, but ventured cautiously inside. No one else was in the room. But he did find pieces of a memory stick that someone had stomped on with intent to destroy.

"Who could've done this?"

Then he looked up at the monitors and at Lelouch's cell, and saw the door was open. Lelouch had escaped. And on a separate monitor, he saw Vincent Glasgow, and Knight of Two, running down an adjacent corridor from outside this room in a great hurry. Suzaku must have just missed him.

_What the hell is going on?_

_____________________________________________________

Vincent Glasgow cursed as he ran down the corridor to the elevator. He had stupidly left a Burai ready for Lelouch with a memory identity stick. But he would put an end to any chance of escape now, and once in the elevator, after pressing the button to the Hanger Bay to go down, he used his probable device to lock the Burai's controls remotely.

It was his personal pad, and he used it for everything to organize his life, and he was glad he had it. Technology was a blessing, no matter the naysayers. The naysayers: those who oppose Britannia's use of Knightmare Frames and higher technology to spy on the masses, to stop revolts, and to control peace.

If Lelouch had killed Jeremiah Gottwald, then Glasgow could blame Lelouch for it. Poisoning the guards would be blamed on Suzaku as an accessory. And then both would be eliminated, even executed.

Suzaku as a Knight of the Round was blasphemy! Glasgow had worked out an elaborate plan to restore his family name. But certain people had to be eliminated for it to rise to fruition; then the rest of his family would take power from the Knights of the Round, and the Emperor.

_Once this happens, the only thing left will be to find that little runt that currently aids in the Emperor's power…the one with the power of Geass, and demand he make a contract with me. Then the Glasgow Family pride will be restore back to its former glory as the true rulers of Britannia!_

That was the plan. Until that little bastard Lelouch fouled it up!

But he would trap the boy in the Hanger Bay and then shoot him while trying to escape. He would be harolded a hero. Jeremiah will still live, but he would find another way to stop the project from continuing…

Lelouch had to die, or Glasgow would be branded a traitor. If anyone else got wind that he had planned to destroy the Emperor's pet project and helped Lelouch escape, poisoned the guards, then he would be executed.

_I'm not going to let that happen!_

When he arrived at the Hanger Bay, the elevator door opened, with a full view of the Knightmare Frames stored here. There was dim illumination, but he was not going to switch on the lights; it would make him a clear target.

He cautiously ventured out into the bay with pistol in hand.

He knew where the Burai was that he readied, it was near the entrance to the massive hanger bay door, and he aimed his weapon in this direction. Lelouch was no doubt hiding near there to get at the Burai's cockpit.

Glasgow fired off a warning shot, but it ricocheted wide the metal casing of the Burai. There was no return fire.

"Lelouch vi Britannia! I know you're here, you traitor! Come on out! All you had to do was fulfill the plan and you would've been set free!"

"Sealing a bargain in blood is foul, Knight of Two," Lelouch's voice echoed the bay, and there as hint of arrogance to it, Glasgow heard. Glasgow whipped around to where he thought Lelouch's voice came from, and fired. But he hit nothing but more mech metal. "Your plan was flawed from the start, but a lesser mind would've believed you, Glasgow. But I am Zero. And I know you were going to betray me. I am not stupid."

Glasgow ventured further with deeper caution, and the elevator door closed behind him. "You have me wrong, Lelouch," he said. "I am not like Suzaku who sold you to the Emperor for his own ambition. I truly do not want my friend Jeremiah to be turned into a sideshow freak for the Emperor to use at will. He would augment others and build an entire legion of super soldiers with the mindset of computer wet wire and no free will."

"That I believe," Lelouch said, "but you're a lair just like Suzaku in other means. If I had murdered Orange Boy, you would've betrayed me and put me back in my cell, and I would have had no choice but to act the innocent prisoner to avoid the Emperor from learning my memories had returned, and then you would blame Suzaku for Jeremiah Gottwald's death, in some grand hidden scheme you have concocted, to return your family name back to power as rulers of Britannia. Your Geass Inhibitor would prevent the Emperor from striking you down with his power. And whatever plans you have schemed up elsewhere would come to fruition. Your flaw was leaving me in my cell to think, Glasgow. I am Zero; I always think twelve steps ahead."

Glasgow felt a chuckle and then a full blown laugh ensued. An evil laugh that came from a psychopath. "Just like a chess master, your intelligence does you credit, Lelouch vi Britannia. And you are essentially correct, but you won't escape me. Now that you know the whole truth, I can't let you live. I deactivated the Burai, so you can't escape in that anymore."

"I agree, killing me would be the best course of action for you," Lelouch said, his voice now coming from another direction. Glasgow knew the boy was moving in the shadows and he was thinking of an alternative plan to escape. "You would be executed if anyone ever found out this scheme of yours, so to murder me is your last option, and you can still blame the guards' deaths on Suzaku. But I'm not going to let you get away with it."

"And how exactly—"

He never got to finish his sentence as a blast of laser fire burst out from somewhere above coming from the top of a Burai, the flash lit up the ceiling of the hanger bay. Glasgow jumped out of the way barely, the blast hitting the stop where he had once stood.  
Lelouch had aimed to kill him.

_That little—_

With that blast came the klaxons blare, and the emergency lights suddenly bathed the entire bay with flashing red crimson. Lelouch knew if he couldn't escape, then he would take Glasgow down with him.

The situation was going from bad to worse. Now the entire base would be alerted, and soldiers were no doubt on there way here. He'll have the whole base here within minutes with all this noise.

_I have to kill Lelouch now!_

The elevator door began to open, it must have picked up a passenger when he was distracted with Lelouch, and he fired at the door frame. He couldn't allow anyone in here. Someone quickly darted deep within the elevator car.

"Glasgow…" a voice called out. "What the hell are you doing? Stop your fire! It's me, Suzaku Kururigi!"

Glasgow thought fast, even in this red klaxon light, eyes would play tricks on someone unsuspecting of the situation. "I'm not shooting!" he lied. He had to create some damage control and he knew Suzaku would help him. He was a Knight of the Round. "It's the prisoner! Lelouch Lamperaouge! And he's planning to blow up the base with a sakuradite bomb!"

_To be continued…_


	6. Truth Revealed

The moment Suzaku heard his friend's name, he froze in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. It felt like a nightmare. After everything he had gone through to convince himself Lelouch was no longer a threat, Lelouch was actually faking the whole time.

"How could I have been duped? No, it can't be Lelouch. Vincent is wrong!"

He peaked around the corner of the elevator, pressing the button for the door to remain open, and another shot of weapons fire entered the elevator and hit the back wall, with Suzaku hugging the back panel area.

Suzaku didn't have a weapon with him, but he knew there was a small weapons locker in the hanger bay. But if he left the elevator, more shots would fly and he may get hit. But he would have to chance it. The problem was the locker was very close to where Lelouch was shooting from.

_No, that last shot came from Vincent Glasgow. But how could Lelouch acquire a weapon? Both guards in the monitoring room were still armed when I saw them, so he didn't get it from either one of them. The only way Lelouch could have gotten a weapon was from a second party._

However, at the moment, it was clear he needed a weapon to fight back. He had his speed, and he was positive he could make it to the weapons locker without harm. So he counted to three, and then bolted out of the elevator like a Gazelle.

Weapons fire followed him, but he was faster. He couldn't see where it was coming from, and he didn't look back either. His heart beat with every push, but he managed to avoid every attempt against him and made it to the weapons locker without harm. It sat next to a wall, caged up. Luckily, a Burai gave him cover and he kicked off the lock. A rifle was too cumbersome, so he grabbed a hand pistol. He activated its power cell and made sure it was charged.

"Vincent, you take the right flank," Suzaku said across the hanger bat, "I'll take the left. Together we'll corner him."

"Right…" came Vincent's voice, albeit a little uncertain.

Suzaku's eyes narrowed with confusion. Vincent Glasgow wasn't much of a battle tactician, he was a strategist according to his military dossier. Suzaku was a frontline soldier. But if this was indeed Lelouch, then he hoped Vincent didn't get spooked and start shooting at shadows. This needed quick action, someone with field experience. Vincent was the Knight of Two, a higher rank than Suzaku, but Suzaku knew the art of war, and in battle, if the plan was good, rank didn't matter.

Suzaku acknowledged the alarms on a panel close to him, switched off the klaxons, and then switched on the hanger bay lights full. To his shock, Lelouch stood on the top of a Burai with a pistol maneuvering between pointed targets on the floor, and attached to his chest was a sukuradite bomb, the same kind Lelouch had threatened Suzaku with on Kamine Island, where Suzaku first captured him.

Suzaku cautiously came out in front, giving Lelouch an open shot at him. Suzaku raised his arms slowly but with pistol in hand. He had to talk with Lelouch, reason with him somehow. But it would not be like what happened on Kamine Island.

Lelouch didn't shoot.

How Suzaku captured Lelouch was actually a fluke, but he could have easily blown them up after he took a blind shot at Lelouch to incapacitate him. The thought of Euphie dead at the hands of Lelouch, her very own brother, enraged him, that he didn't care whether he lives or died. After Lelouch was down, he removed the sukuradite bomb strapped to his chest, and then dragged him to the Emperor. This time was different, and he couldn't risk anything going wrong.

The Emperor was supposed to have erased Lelouch's memory. What happened? The Emperor doesn't make mistakes. Especially critical ones like this.

Vincent aimed his pistol with intent to kill. "Put it down, Vincent," Suzaku said. "If you hit that bomb strapped to his chest, you'll kill us all."

"We can't allow Zero to escape!" Vincent demanded.

Lelouch laughed. "Your confidence is waning, Knight of Two. You were so assured of victory. But I digress, you mean nothing to me. I hold all the pieces in this game now." Lelouch turned to Suzaku. "Well, if it isn't my dear friend, Suzaku," he said, "the traitor and the hypocrite. We come full circle, you and I."

_Kamine Island_ , Suzaku thought.

"Shoot him!" Vincent demanded.

"No!" Sazuku said harshly. He had his pistol in the air and the nozzle was pointed towards the ceiling of the hanger bay. If need be, he could shoot a sprinkler head and distract Lelouch at a particular moment, but he honestly didn't want to hurt his friend. "Your memories have returned?"

"They never truly left," Lelouch said with a smile. "Oh, there was some haziness at first, but ultimately my mind was stronger than my father's Geass power. My love for Nunnally is stronger, and not even the Emperor can take that away from me!"  
"How did you escape your cell?"

Lelouch gave a sideways glance to Glasgow, smirked. Glasgow's eyes widened, knowing Lelouch was about to tell all. "It is quite an interesting story, wouldn't you say, Knight of Two?"

"Shut up! Just shut your mouth, you arrogant, son-of-bitch!"

Suzaku looked at Glasgow. "What does Lelouch mean, Vincent?"

"While I enjoy a good story and one filled with intrigue, I'm short on time if I am to escape from here," Lelouch said. "The whole base will be here soon. So, here is the jist of it. He's a traitor, Suzaku. He wanted me to terminate one of the Emperor's pet projects; he said he would let me go free without incident. He released me from my cell. But I knew he was using me from the start."

Suzaku looked shocked and confused. "I don't understand. What pet project? I'm not aware of any special project?"

Glasgow sighed annoyed, gritted his teeth. "The Emperor is using my friend, Jeremiah Gottwald, in one of his twisted experiments," he said truthfully. "After Lelouch had defeated him in battle, supposedly, his body was severely battered and burned. He was brought back to this base and hospitalized. It was then the Emperor had an idea…and Jeremiah is currently in suspended animation, augmented with bio-technology in one of this bases' labs. I don't want my friend to be used to create a legion of mindless super soldiers. I made a deal with Lelouch. He would kill Jeremiah and I gave him everything he needed. In return, I would allow him to escape unabated. But he betrayed me."

"You betrayed me, Glasgow," Lelouch retorted. "You had no intention of letting me go, and your ultimate failure was giving me time to think in my cell."

Suzaku couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What the Emperor does is not our concern, Vincent, but I do understand your feelings," Suzaku said, his emotions in check. He believed there was more, but it would have to wait. "We'll talk later, Vincent. But our main goal right now is to capture Lelouch. Zero and the White Knights must never again rise to threaten Britannia or the current peace we enjoy."

Lelouch growled angrily. "You rotten filthy traitor!" he shouted at Suzaku.

Suzaku was both steadfast but sad at the same time as he glared up at Lelouch. "I'm working to change things from within, Lelouch, for all Eleven's and Britannian's to live in peace. Zero and the White Knight's threaten this peace. Within the last couple of months, the streets have become safe to walk on and there are no attacks by rebels against Britannian soldiers. I must keep that peace, and if this means capturing you and taking you to the Emperor again, I will do that!"

"I never meant to kill Euphemia, please remember that," Lelouch said. "I had no choice. There were unfortunate circumstances involved."

Suzaku's eyes widened with distain. "You will not arouse my emotions by opening old wounds, Lelouch!" Suzaku relinquished the surrender gesture and pointed his pistol at Lelouch. Lelouch had angered him by mentioning Euphie's name. Suzaku cared for her very much. But a soldier had to be like stone or risk dying in a fit of rage. "I'm warning you, Lelouch, get down here right now!"

"No! I won't listen to a traitor! What everybody is saying about you is correct, you did betray the Japanese people for your own ambition. You turned your back on them. Even now it's hard to believe you could be so cold-hearted." He turned to Glasgow. "And you, Knight of Two, let me explain something to _you_ : Killing Orange Boy would serve no purpose. My father would only have found someone else. If your plan did succeed, and I was killed, and Suzaku was arrested for the guards' you killed, then it would be obvious what the Emperor would do…To strike fear into the Eleven's, my father would augment Suzaku."

Suzaku was shocked, both from the revelation that Glasgow had killed the guards and how much Lelouch made sense. "But I'm a Knight of the Round…"

"If you were arrested for Glasgow's crime, then it would be the perfect gambit. Glasgow would not be suspected, and you would be put on trial as a traitor. Every Eleven would demand to see you put to death. And the Emperor would make it a spectacle. Your death would serve as a warning against any rebellion. And Glasgow would be waiting in the wings concocting schemes to overthrow the Emperor. He would use the new Geass Inhibitor to annul his powers. The same, I suspect, they are installing in Jeremiah Gottwald for whatever purpose. I have lost my Geass power, but believe me, there are other's with this similar power. C2, for one, and the other that who is partnered with my father. I don't know his name."

"Enough, Lelouch," Suzaku said. "You'll come with me now. Surrender or I'll be forced to shoot you. And you know how good a shot I am. Remember Kamine Island. I cracked your helmet in two. I could've killed you by putting the blast through your skull, but I didn't. No matter what, you are still my friend."

"Friends don't betray each another, and allow another to erase your entire life in an instant. No, I would rather die than give the Emperor another chance to erase my memories." Lelouch put a hand to the sukurdite device. "But I will give you this one chance to back away and allow me to leave without further incident. Or I'll detonate and take everyone on this base with me!"

"I can't let you go, Lelouch. You know that."

"Then you're dead to me even with my memories intact." Lelouch pointed his pistol at a wall panel below, the lighting controls; Suzaku made a fleeting glance at its direction, before Lelouch blasted them, destroying the panel. The entire hanger bay went dark.  
In the instant the lights went out, Vincent Glasgow fired several shots through the darkness, but ultimately hit nothing.

"Get those lights back on now!" he demanded. "We can't let him escape!"

"He's trapped, Vincent, and without a Burai to operate, he won't be able to leave here." Just then the emergency lights switched on, bathing the bay in a soft crimson glow. But Lelouch had disappeared from the top of the Burai. "Guard the doors, he may try to get past us," Suzaku ordered, but he wondered just how loyal Vincent Glasgow was to Britannia anymore. And if he was planning on framing Suzaku for the guards' deaths in the monitoring station anyway. Was he safe here with him?

Suddenly the Burai Lelouch had been standing on activated and began to power up. It stood up from its crouched position and its weapons' systems poised its cannons to bear on the hanger bay doors.

"Look out!" Suzaku shouted.

It fired, sending a shockwave of laser fire against the doors, and blasting a large opening for the Burai to escape through. Both Vincent and Suzaku jumped out of the way of flying debris.

Lelouch's Burai then raced out of the hanger bay and out into the base grounds.

"How the hell did Lelouch get access to the Burai's controls?" Suzaku got to one knee from a laying position on the ground, he had covered his head from flying debris. As the Burai's wheels screeched across the payment outside, Suzaku looked aghast. "You gave Lelouch a Memory ID stick, didn't you?"

"But I deactivated the damn thing! How the hell is that Burai moving?" Vincent looked at his portable data device, but he had been locked out of the Burai controls. Lelouch had rewritten the protocols of the Burai remotely. "Damn him!"

"Lelouch is the smartest person I know," Suzaku said, almost smiling. A small part of him hoped Lelouch would escape. However, if he didn't recapture him, the Emperor would question his loyalty and he would be punished as a sympathizer in Glasgow's plan. "We have to recapture Lelouch at all costs."

Suzaku got to his feet.

"I agree," Vincent said, but then he turned around and shot Suzaku in the left thigh. Suzaku screamed, held his leg, and collapsed to the floor. Vincent kicked Suzaku's pistol away from him. "I will kill Lelouch vi Britannia myself. Once Lelouch is dead, even if you tell the Emperor everything, he won't believe you. He'll think you let Lelouch go because of your past friendship. He would have no reason to suspect me. I can still salvage the situation, and pin everything on you."

With a touch of his data device, he accessed and activated another Burai, Knightmare Frame, and climbed into the cockpit, using his device as its ID even without a memory stick. Then he raced out of the charred, ripped opening Lelouch had made, following in pursuit.  
Suzaku clutched his leg and could only watch. He rolled over and tried to stand on his feet, but he fell back down in agony.

Six armed soldiers suddenly stormed into the hanger bay from another entrance.

"Sir, my Lord Kururugi…You've been shot!…Get a medical doctor down here now!" the commander said to one of his men, and the soldier immediately responded, put a hand to a headset radio, and called it in.

Suzaku tried to get up again. The commander reached down to help him, but Suzaku slapped his arm away, and Suzaku hobbled to his feet, and leaned up against the leg of a Burai, his face cringing with pain.

He grit his teeth, and barked out an order: "Wake up Lloyd, and ready the Lancelot for launch. We have an escaped prisoner and a traitor to catch!"

_To be continued…_


	7. A Knight To Battle

The Nightmare Frame Burai burst out of the hanger bay with lightning speed scorching the concrete payment with its wheels beneath. It jetted across the compound towards freedom and it rattled Lelouch's teeth with ever jerk and swerve. Lelouch had escaped quickly, so he had no time to harness himself in properly to the seat. And with every move, he was jolted around. But he couldn't stop now, Vincent Glasgow was chasing him, and this was his only chance to flee imprisonment.

Slowly but surely, he could feel his Geass returning. When his mind erasure failed by the Emperor, so did the complete suppression of his Geass. He figured it had been waiting patiently in the back of his mind to _re-awaken_ , but he knew C2 would need to be present to fully restore its power. But did he really want it back? Using Geass, he accidentally caused a horrible event, and Euphemia killed dozens of Elevens when he gave her an unwitting command. There were moments in his cells that he felt disgusted with himself when he recalled the events of that day.

On that day, he and Euphemia had agreed to a truce, and with her support, the United States of Japan was to become a reality. At long last, a new bright future for Japan was to come to pass by restoring a small portion of its dignity back to it. All those years remaining on the sidelines feeling like he was dead, like he was merely existing in an empty shell, he could finally restore some of the damage that his family had afflicted upon the Japanese people so many years ago. Mostly, this would stick a craw in his father's plans for complete supremacy over Area 11. Some justice would be had to him, Nunnally and their mother, for what their father had done years prior.

With the USJ, he knew other nations would soon rise up against Britannia and apply for membership to join. It would be a joyous occasion.

But when the unfortunate happenstance took place, many Elevens had gathered in the auditorium deep within rebel held territory to cheer the birth of the USJ. Euphemia was Britannia's representative to sanction the gathering and sign the treaty.

He couldn't remember the precise circumstances, but he did recall they were joking about something together in a private room. Lelouch had his mask off at the meeting.

Maybe it was the shock of what later happened and his inattentiveness to control his Geass power — C2 did say it Geass eventually evolves and takes over its host with every use — that caused his crass, but jocular words at that moment.

They were discussing politics among the White Knights in contrast to the Britannia status-quo. The Elevens were cheering in the outside arena, and Britannia soldiers were standing guard if there was any trouble. Both Lelouch and Euphemia knew this made the Elevens nervous, but knowing her, Lelouch knew his sister would never allow something bad to happen…unless it was on her order.

Euphemia expressed concerns this gathering made the Elevens a target, and that if certain soldiers who wanted to make a name for themselves, open fired on the innocent, that she would be blamed, and the White Knights would attack in retaliation. The White Knights and Britannia would then battle on open ground with the Elevens in the middle, and it would be a bloodbath. It was a tense situation, and whereas both sides were on pins and needles. But both leaders were family, and trusted each other implicitly.

" _What do think I would say, kill the Elevens? And blame it on Britannia? This would only add fuel to a fire that continues to burn without need. We want peace._ " Or something to that affect. His exact words eluded him as he continued to run over the events in his mind in his cell. In the end, whatever was said resulted in murder. He figured the words: "kill the Elevens" was the trigger that installed a command to in Euphemia's consciousness, and this is what caused her to stand up on stage, her eyes aglow, pistol in hand, and say, "Elevens…Will you all please die?" And then she started shooting at them.

She had managed to murder almost a dozen people before he put an end to her rampage. Or had it been two dozen? He couldn't remember with all the screams. Once she had begun shooting, Britannia soldiers then fired into the crowd on her orders. It was a horrible and sickening scene. One he relived repeatedly whenever he closed his eyes.  
He understood how hurt and angry Suzaku felt. It was obvious Euphemia had meant a lot to him, however their relationship unraveled.  
But Euphemia also meant a lot to Lelouch.

His last words to her were: " _You are the only woman I will ever truly love,_ " platonically, brother to sister. Not even he could believe what he had had done, killing her because of something stupid he had said as a joke. And in his cell, he had to cry in silence because to weep openly would invite inquiry that he remembered, then the Emperor would know that he had failed to erase his memories. It hard to hold back the tears.

But the betrayal of Suzaku kept his anger hot.

He told himself he would deal with those feelings later. Escaping the compound was paramount and Vincent Glasgow who was in hot pursuit.

Lelouch switched camera angles, and in a small window in the cockpit glass canopy, he saw Glasgow's Burai chasing him, and surprisingly, catching up. Glasgow would burn out his Burai's motivator and CPU at this rate. Obviously the man was pissed that his little secret was out. Vincent Glasgow was ruined.

And again, it all came down to trust.

Lelouch opened a channel. "I never ask to be followed," he said sarcastically. "From one trickster to another, you're a sore loser, Knight of Two."

Lelouch was lurched forward from weapons fire and he had to hold steady the controls from being jettisoned through the canopy. He quickly buckled the harness around his chest. Another blast of weapons fire came from Glasgow's Burai and it struck Lelouch's Burai squarely in the rear. Lelouch lurched again. Luckily, the metal plating held.

"I'm going to kill you, Lelouch vi Britannia, Zero, or whatever you're calling yourself at the moment! You ruined everything! My status, my reputation, and my life! You had a simple job to do…" Glasgow finished with two nasty words.

"Temper, temper, Knight of Two, and such vulgar language," Lelouch said. "We are on an open channel. Others can hear our conversion."

"I don't care!"

Lelouch laughed. "There's an old saying: 'Who is the bigger fool-the one who fools others or the one who follows the fool?'"

Lelouch soared his Burai across the compound as there was another barrage of weapons fire. At the moment, it was only him and Glasgow. But he knew sooner or later, Suzaku and others would follow, so he had to find a way off the base. He thought fast, and after recalling the base schematics from the Burai memory banks, he discovered there was a cliff and a river bed one kilometre from his current position, due east.

_That will be perfect_ , he thought. I _'ll send the Burai into the waters, and then swim the current to safety. They'll think I've drowned. Their search will be fruitless._

He punched in the coordinates into the log computer and turned his Burai a hard right. Vincent Glasgow was slow to respond, and he saw the Knight of Two skid his Burai's wheels across the concrete racing past his turn to follow.

More weapons fire, but Lelouch had too much of a lead for it to be a threat to him.

* * *

For the first time that he could remember Suzaku swore out loud, and everyone heard him. He was in the hanger bay and the doctor was bandaging his leg.

He swore three-fold: one from the pain, two that he couldn't believe that he was again betrayed—Vincent Glasgow, a Knight of the Round, had shot him in the leg. And three, because the Lancelot was unavailable for combat. It was out of character for him, he knew, but he just had to vent. And above it all, Lelouch had escaped imprisonment.

Minutes after he requested Lancelot be readied, he learned that Lloyd (its main designer) had told a diagnostic crew to complete an overall of its weapons and working systems. Since it was peace times, and the Lancelot was the echelon of the Britannia Knightmare Frame fleet, it needed to stay in top condition. It was just poor timing.

Lloyd never told him he was doing this, and tonight of all nights.

The leader of the work crew apologized profusely, but Suzaku knew it wasn't his fault, and Lloyd would not have known Lelouch would escape with help from one of their own. Every machine needed maintenance and tonight was the Lancelot's. Before, soldiers had to be ready at a moment's notice for operations. But without Zero and the White Knights Area 11 was finally at peace. Until Vincent Glasgow screwed with the balance of things.

Suzaku hated betrayal. When he turned Lelouch into the Emperor, he turned in a murderer in. He didn't betray his friend. This was different. He couldn't believe the Knight of Two was a traitor. Never in its history had one Knight of the Round betrayed the cause for personal ambition. It was unfathomable and unthinkable.

Night forces were readied to deploy, but Suzaku held them at bay. This was his fight. He had had believed the Emperor had succeeded in brainwashing Lelouch and didn't restrain him in his cell. That was his mistake. Two people had betrayed him today and he had to nip this in the bud before there was yet another occurrence, and keep it hushed.

Lost in his thoughts and feeling the sting of betrayal, he almost didn't hear a soldier next to him speaking. "All is in readiness, my Lord!" This shook Suzaku out of his reverie and he saw the soldier saluting him.

"Oh yes," he said, "very good, Corporal. But I've decided to engage in this battle alone." Suzaku stepped to a readied Burai, the same type Lelouch and Glasgow raced out in, and called for the cockpit capsule to be ejected for his entry.

"But sir, you can't handle the both of them on your own? You might get hurt or worse."

"Thank you for your consideration, Corporal, but I've been in enough battles to know the risks, and how to stand on my own."

"Yes, sir…" the Corporal said, sounding disappointed, and handed Suzaku a rifle he had requested prior, to accompany him in case he needed it. A pistol was a weapon for up-close. GPS were following the Burai's as they raced towards a cliffside riverbed just off the compound grounds. "We'll be monitoring everything from here," the Corporal then said.

"That will be fine," Suzaku agreed. "But I want no interference from anyone, and that's an order. Do I make myself clear?"

The Corporal saluted. "Yes, sir," and then he backed away to a safe distance. Suzaku's cockpit inserted into the Burai when he pressed a button and he readied the controls for launch. "Ready for Lord Kururiugi's Burai for launch! All stay clear!"

When Suzaku's Burai accepted his ID stick, and he manually at the controls, he launched out of the hanger bay like a Gazelle on speed drugs, and raced out onto the compound into the night. He had ordered that the base be brightly illuminated, so he could see every building, corner and avenue, so there was nowhere for anyone to hide.

This Burai was sluggish and was nothing like the Lancelot, but it would do.

"I won't let you escape, Lelouch," he said, "and I'll recapture you, and take you back to the Emperor—for your crimes…"

_…and for killing Euphie!_

_To be continued…_


	8. Traitor

Lelouch chuckled. Victory was within his grasp and freedom was now only a half a kilometre away. He raced his Burai across the compound, using plans stored in the databank schematics of the Knightmare Frame. The cliffside riverbed was close and Vincent Glasgow was far behind him. Lelouch no longer considered him a threat and any weapons fire would be a futile attempt to stop him.

The plan was simple: He would drive the Burai over the cliffside and into the river, escape the cockpit, and then allow the current to take him to safety. It was so simplistic that it almost fell short of luck. All the cards were in his favour, as if a force unknown was pushing all his obstacles from his path. Geass, it had an almost fortuitous ability to see into the future, C2 once told him, that if a person had the ability, the future could be written in favour of the user. And he wondered if C2 was observing him somewhere and doing such a thing to help him escape. She had helped him many times before and this would not be out-of-character. C2 was a selfish woman, but over time, Lelouch had come to see a motherly side to her. And if she still wanted that favour from him she asked for when they first made their contract, she _would_ help him in this greatest time of need. So he thanked her silently… _if_ she was helping him at the moment?

But suddenly his fortune ran out, as if the mere acknowledgement of it brought a reversal, and the Burai began to slow its acceleration.

Lelouch scrambled to diagnose the problem and reviewed the access log. And he cursed. He had been locked out of the main systems by way remote control. Vincent Glasgow had regained his link.

Lelouch slammed the controls. "No! This can't be happening when I'm so close!"

"Time for you to pay for your betrayal, Lelouch vi Britannia!" The Burai's cockpit boomed with Glasgow's voice. "My link to your Burai's system has been reestablished and this time you won't be able to override it."

_This isn't over yet. I have not played all my board pieces. This King is still in play._

His mind was fluent and his fingers like lightning, but there was something artificial-minded altering the access link protocols quicker than Lelouch could overwrite them. Glasgow showed him, when they were discussing the plan in his cell, a computer pad that he used for his work for data computing and storage, that had a direct link to every system in the base: its informational files, and other access. This was most likely what the Knight of Two was using to shut Lelouch's Burai down. And the same thing Lelouch had blocked out to grant _him_ access to the Burai when Glasgow had shut him out in the hanger bay. The ID stick had been inserted into the computer, but the access code had been erased. Lelouch re-wrote the code and added a new password to start the Burai.

But there was nothing Lelouch could do against this. He was more intelligent than the average person, but not even he could defeat a computer than could compute variations and scenarios thousands of times faster than even a Chess Master.

Lelouch's Burai came to a sudden halt just on the skirts of the base compound grounds on a grassy hillside that lead down to the cliffside riverbed. If he attempted to run, he knew Glasgow would shoot him dead.

Seconds later, his canopy shut down and the cockpit lights went dark from the remote link, Glasgow has efficiently killed all his hopes. Seconds later, his capsule ejected, and Lelouch emerged. He stood to see Glasgow's Burai cannons aimed at him. Was Glasgow going to kill him with such cowardice?

Lelouch raised his arms in a surrender gesture. "Come on out, Glasgow, and face me. Your revenge will be bittersweet otherwise."

Moments lapsed without a response. Then Glasgow's capsule ejected, and he emerged with a rifle in his hands and with the barrel pointed at Lelouch. "You ruined me! I have nothing left. But we both know, if I shoot you, you'll detonate and take half the base with you. You still have that sukuradite bomb strapped to your chest."

Lelouch put a hand to his chest, to his heart. "Obviously," he said, then climbed down to the ground, Glasgow following his movements with every step of the rifle. He then took several steps towards the downslope of the hillside, and looked over. It was so close. But the river was raging, if his plan had succeeded and he splashed his Burai into its waters, ejected his capsule, would he be able to survive its hard currents? The databanks told him of the cliff and of the riverbank, but he didn't consider its fast-moving flow or depth.

He turned and looked back at Glasgow. "C'mon, Glasgow," he said. "Shoot me. I dare you. I won't go back to prison and my avenue of escape is cut off. That water is running to fast. I'll drown." He unstrapped the bomb from his chest and deactivated it, throwing it down the hill. "Now you can kill me. There's nothing to stop you."

Glasgow looked over the scope of the rifle and smiled. Lelouch's brow folded in and his confidence wavered with an odd feeling of confusion.

"Why are you smiling, Glasgow?"

"Because killing you now will be moot," Vincent said. "Suzaku may know snippets of our association, but it is your word against mine. And he doesn't know the entire truth. All surveillance was shut off when you went to kill Jeremiah, and when I shot Suzaku in the hanger bay after you fled. I'll claim it was self defence and say that he helped you escape. He'll be arrested for treason. He has no clue of my family's plans to overthrow the Empire. Like I said before, the Glasgow family is the true rulers of Britannia, and we will control Geass, too. All the pieces are in place and ready to strike. Initially, my plan was to kill you and blame Suzaku, shutting down the Empire's pet project was only a side agenda. But it gave me the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. So, in retrospect, any conceivable guilt against me will be conjecture. I am trustworthy, you are a murderer and a rebel. Who do you think the Emperor will believe?"

"I must give you credit, Glasgow. You have surprised me and I am impressed. I never would've expected such a devious and dastardly plan. Do you hate Suzaku that much that you would frame an honest person with a good heart?"

"He's an Eleven, he can never be anything but a piece of trash from a war-torn, two-bit country. If I were in charge, I would blow Japan from the face of the planet. When the Emperor made him a Knight of the Round for turning you in, I was disgusted. I was civil around him, but secretly, I wanted to put a pistol to his chest and blow a hole through it."

"Suzaku's not stupid, he can figure things out even with all the pieces jumbled. I've seen him do remarkable things over the years…"

"Never," Glasgow said. "That stupid kid is too gullible to ever pose a threat to me. My revenge for your betrayal will be to see all your memories fade away, and your very identity stripped away, until you're nothing but a shell of your former self. The man I once called my friend, Jeremiah Gottwald, died when you killed him. That thing, swimming around with wires and augmented in a lab, is nothing to me now."

Lelouch started to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Remember when you were chasing me and I told you our conversion was on an open channel, that anyone could listen in?"

Lelouch pulled out a miniature recording device with its button depressed ON. He had found it in the lab Gottwald was housed, probably used by the scientists to record their findings, and quickly snatched it; Glasgow none the wiser. He was a person who thought ten steps ahead and Glasgow played right into his hands. "I connected this device to the Burai communique channel frequency and it has been broadcasting to the entire base. You just confessed to conspiracy, high treason, and the attempted murder of a Knight of the Round. Your secret is out, Vincent Glasgow. Now the Emperor knows everything."

Glasgow's eyes lit up with utter rage. " _NOOOOOOOOO!_ You Son-Of-A—"

Glasgow went to fire the rifle, but before he could get a shot off, the rifle's power pack exploded in his hands, from a long-range attack, from a Burai in the distance. It was too far to see it clearly, but Lelouch had a good idea who had followed them. Glasgow cried out in agony as his face was burnt black and pieces of shrapnel imbedded itself in his skin. He was alive, but he would never be the "pretty-boy" Knight he once was. He fell back into his cockpit screaming.

"Time to pay the piper, Glasgow!" Lelouch shouted.

Glasgow shouted profanities with guile. "I'm not finished yet. I still have allies. I'll order them to kill Suzaku, and your sister. I know where Nunnally is being held. If I can't have the world, then I'll have the satisfaction of shattering yours!"

Suddenly, a large blast hit Glasgow's cockpit from the distant Burai, and it exploded in a massive ball of fire, completely engulfing the pilot. The Burai screeched and then crashed to the ground, and exploded again, with Glasgow's body inside.

The Knight of Two was dead.

Lelouch had dropped to the ground and covered his head to avoid the blast and debris, but when he looked up, he saw the Burai that had followed them, roll over to his position. Its cannons now had him in their sights, but he knew the pilot would not fire.

Lelouch got to his feet. "Suzaku, you can come out. I know it's you."

The cockpit to the Burai ejected, and Suzaku emerged with a high-powered rifle in hand. But he didn't point it at Lelouch. "You're under arrest, Lelouch," he said.

Lelouch nodded, but didn't offer up a surrender. "You hear everything?"

"Yes, his confession and treachery against the Empire," Suzaku said. "And, you should know, I would never let any harm come to Nunnally."

"I would hope so."

"But just because you exposed him, doesn't grant you leniency, Lelouch. You'll still be tried for your crimes, and I'll take you back to the Emperor."

"No! If you valued our friendship in the slightest, Suzaku, you'd shoot me here dead! If my father erases my memories of Nunnally, it would be like killing me anyhow." He dropped to his knees. "I beg you, don't let my father take her away from me!"

"I won't let any harm come to Nunnally, Lelouch, I promise," was all Suzaku said.

Lelouch scowled. "You're still sore over Euphemia, aren't you? I'm sorry, but it was out of my control. I gave her the command to kill the Eleven's, I admit that. She was out of control and I had to rectify my mistake. Once I issued her instructions," (via Geass; but he did not want to say so over an open channel, it would create other problems; although he guessed a great deal of others unknown to him already knew about its power), "it must be fulfilled until the very end. She would continue to murder millions of Eleven's if I didn't stop her. If I had only known father could block that command with his power, I would not have killed Euphemia. I can't undo something that has already been done!"

"I believe you, Lelouch. But all mistakes have consequences."

Suzaku paused, and bent down for a moment and did something inside his cockpit out of sight. His rifle twitched slightly. Lelouch wasn't positive, but had Suzaku just inserted a fresh magazine into the weapon? Suzaku then brought it to bare on him.

"Lelouch vi Britannia, by order of the Emperor, I, Sir Suzaku Kururugi of the Knights of the Round, do hereby arrest you for crimes against the Empire of Britannia. You will come with me, or I have orders to terminate your life. What action will you take?"

Lelouch looked at the rifle. He didn't smile, but Suzaku had just declared his intentions. If he ran, Suzaku would shoot him. His announcement over an open channel give his action purchase. Did this mean Suzaku forgive him without actually saying it? Of course, he didn't. That would be losing face among his peers and a Knight of the Round had to remain vigilant in the face of all adversity.

No, he was doing a job. And his friend did it very well. Suzaku had risen the ranks to be in the position he was in now.

_Thank you, Suzaku. If I am to die, let it be at the hand of a friend. Et tu, Brutus?_

Lelouch got to his feet. He knew it was over and it was time he declared it openly. This standoff could only end with one outcome. A Knight of the Round was dead and Lelouch was indirectly responsible. No one saw the shot that killed Vincent Glasgow come from Suzaku, and Suzaku would not be foolish enough to record it. For all intended purposes, the audio of this incident was the only thing anyone would hear.

But what needed to happen was clear and he knew in his heart Suzaku knew as well. Lelouch began to walk back towards the downslope of the hill.

"Lelouch, stand where you are. I order you!" Suzaku demanded.

"Death is death, Suzaku. I won't go back! You're going to have to shot me!"

Lelouch turned to run…

"So be it!" he heard Suzaku say.

But Lelouch didn't get very far, as a laser blast scorched his back, and he went tumbling down the hillside, sliding all the way down, and stopped just shy of the cliffside.

He was so close, but he knew this was the only outcome. Checkmate.

Suzaku ran down after him, Lelouch's couldn't move. His back felt like it was on fire, scorched, burnt, and numb.

No, Suzaku didn't kill him. But he did heavily stun him. He wanted Suzaku to kill him.

" _You traitor…_ " he mouthed, before darkness took him.

_To be continued…_


	9. The Cruelest Fate

" _Nunnally…_ " Lelouch whispered under his breath.

He felt cold, but it wasn't just his body…it was also his soul. It felt like someone had ripped his very consciousness from the housing and now he was floating as only thought in a realm of nothingness; in complete and utter darkness, and with nothing but a word to cling to for hope:

" _Nunnally…_ "

As long as Lelouch had her, he had the will to live on, against any challenge, every obstacle.

Even the memory of betrayal by his best friend.

Suzaku had shot him in the back. But instead of killing him, he used a heavy stun to incapacitate. Now, he feared the worse, that his father, the Emperor, would use him in one of his sick and twisted experiments similar to how he augmented Jeremiah Gottwald.

Vincent Glasgow was dead, but what had everything he went through gained Lelouch? He gambled and lost.

At least, above all else, he believed Suzaku when he promised to keep Nunnally safe from harm.

_Safe nothing for me… But I still have my memories, am I alive or dead?_

As his consciousness floated back into an understandable realm of being, he felt the sensation of being retrained once more, like he was back in a straight jacket. However, unlike that feeling, unable to move his arms, this was much more intense. He couldn't move any part of his body, he was all thought but no body, as if he had been given some sort of paralyzing drug.

But he began to…

"Awake!" a distant voice said, and in an instant, Lelouch felt the hard strike of a slap across his face, and it abruptly brought him fully conscious.

A blindfold was ripped off across his eyes and Lelouch snapped them open. But he quickly shut them when light pierced his pupils like hot daggers.

"Good, you've finally come to," a mysterious voice said. "Those paralyzing agents administered by the Doctor to patch your wounds were strong. Suzaku, he's conscious!"

"Who are you?" Lelouch said back. "I can't see you apart from his light."

The person leaned in and temporarily blocked the bright light shining down from an unknown light source in the ceiling. Lelouch looked up, apart from a silhouette, he couldn't see much of his captor. But he had called for Suzaku. So there were two of them here. Wherever here was?

"My name is Gino Winberg, a Knight of the Round, the Knight of Three, to be exact," he said. "You've been a very bad boy, Lelouch vi Britannia. Suzaku is quite upset with you."

"The feeling is mutual after what he's done—that traitor!"

"Tsk, tsk…Now is that anyway to speak to your saviour?" The lights in the room switched on and Lelouch blinked twice before his eyes were able to focus on the blonde haired, but boyish tall looking man leaning over him wearing a white Knight of the Round uniform, and a Geass Inhabitor Lapel. Gino stood up straight. "You've been out for three days, and in that time, everything that happened between you, Vincent Glasgow, and everyone else, has been hushed up. If word ever got around that a Knight of the Round betrayed their own, then that would create unwarranted chaos and a loss of confidence in the Emperor's elite. And that would not do."

"Why are you telling me this? I don't give a damn." Lelouch spat back a reply.

Gino gave a large smile. "Oh, you should care. But I'll let Suzaku fill you in on the details."

The door to the commonplace room opened and Suzaku entered with a small box in hand. It had the appearance of a standard school pencil box, but Lelouch suspected it was had a much more nefarious purpose. It also looked like a surgical box used to secure a medical syringe during transport. Suzaku handed it off to Gino before approaching. Gino stepped back, out of the way.

Lelouch looked at himself, and found he was strapped into a medical chair in this commonplace room. The chair was the only thing the room, there was nothing else.

He at Suzaku, in his Knight white uniform with a Geass Inhabitor Lapel. "Why are you doing this? I thought it was understood that I wanted you to kill me! I don't want my memories erased by the Emperor! Death is death, Suzaku! Whether you kill my body, or through amnesia, it makes no difference…I don't want my memories of Nunnally gone! Can't you understand that? Or are you as cold-blooded as my father?"

"Quiet Lelouch, you've said enough," Suzaku said.

"You traitor," and Lelouch spat in Suzaku's face.

"Oooo…He's a spitfire, isn't he?" Gino said, chuckling.

Suzaku wiped his face with a sleeve and gave Gino a detracted look. Gino smirked.

There was a familiar camaraderie between Suzaku and Weinberg, Lelouch noticed-not unlike between friends—with that sarcastic remark. Suzaku frowned in contrast, however. But Suzaku always did have a serious and depressive disposition, Lelouch recalled.

"I thought you were going to take me to the Emperor?" Lelouch said.

"Soon Lelouch, but I have been authorized to conduct a little experiment first. The Emperor is…amused…that his attempt to erase your memories with his Geass failed, and he wants to know why."

"Because my _will to remember_ is stronger that his _will of persuasion_ ," Lelouch said snidely. "The arrogance of my father is beyond comprehension."

Gino snorted amusement. "That's an understatement, but we still love him."

Suzaku gave Gino another detracted glance. Gino put a hand to his lips and made the gesture of zipping them up. Suzaku returned his attention to Lelouch.

"I have nothing to say to you, traitor."

"You keep calling me a traitor as if the word fazes me, Lelouch. I am Japanese, an Eleven, but I am also an Honorary Britannian, and now a Knight of the Round. You were born a Royal Prince of Britannia, but you detest your heritage, rejected it, and wore a mask to fight for the Japanese. By our actions alone, we are _both_ hypocrites of the highest order. Unlike you, I have been given a chance to rise above my station in life, a station designated by your family who destroyed _my land_ and _my heritage_ , so don't you dare judge me through words of hypocrisy! Sometimes you have to do things others may not like to rise to a position whereas you do have power to change things. I'm trying to change things from within. But things take time. It sometimes takes a generation or more to fully come to grips to the needs of the masses. And now that I have a say, the ear of the Emperor, I can help my people. You went about it the wrong way. There is a difference between us. I may be hated, but at least what I do is transparent, while you hide behind a mask of subterfuge like some common criminal and try to justify you actions with violence and rebellion. In truth, you've been acting like a spoiled brat without conscious."

"Nice speech, Suzaku, but it changes nothing."

"To those who refuse to listen, yes, that's true," Suzaku said.

"I'm still not telling you anything. All the members of the White Knights have gone underground with the exception of those that you've already captured or executed. You may have had me in isolation, but I've still managed to gain knowledge of the world. Nothing you do to me will make a difference, if torture is your game. All I know is _old_ information."

"I'm not going to torture you, Lelouch. Not in the conventional sense anyway. If your will is stronger than the Emperor's, then he wishes you to prove it. And there still is the matter of your punishment for the trouble you've caused in the past." Suzaku asked for the small box, then he opened it, and pulled out a syringe filled with about 10cc's of a blue unidentifiable liquid. "And this coincides with the Emperor's little experiment. You will be its guinea pig."

"What is it?" Lelouch said anxiously.

Suzaku looked at the syringe. "It doesn't have a name. We're calling it Anti-Refrain for the moment. Unlike normal Refrain that produces soothing, happy hallucinations of what a person chooses to think about, this version was designed to enhance nightmares and dark thoughts of whatever lurks in the mind of an individual, such as their fears, and etcetera."

Lelouch tried to wiggle away, but to no avail. He was so tightly strapped down that even the slightest movement was moot. Suzaku went to poke the needle into Lelouch's arm, when Lelouch screamed, "No, Suzaku! Don't do this! I beg you!"

"I won't know what your deepest, darkest fear may be, Lelouch, but the Emperor wishes to thank you in advance for your contribution," Suzaku said. "He claims, if this experiment is successful, then we can cure everyone addicted to Refrain as the two Refrains will cancel each other out. But to a person who is not under the influence of Refrain already, I've been told, it will produce unpleasant thoughts. It will take a few minutes for the drug to fully take effect."

Suzaku poked Lelouch in the arm and administered the drug. Lelouch protested loudly and profusely, but Suzaku ignored his cries. He returned the syringe back to its case and stepped back.

Gino stepped forward, and asked, "I wonder what he'll think about?" to Suzaku.

Suzaku remained straight-faced. "I believe i know exactly what his mind will conjure up, and if not, then the Emperor has ordered me to insert that idea into his thoughts. But I don't think I'll have to…I think I already know Lelouch's greatest fear…and so does he, admittedly or not."

Lelouch's eyes began to bugle as the drug started to take effect. His head began to twitch as he tried to fight it, but Suzaku knew even his friend would lose this battle. Lelouch was strong-willed and strong-minded, but not against this powerful drug.

" _Nunnally…_ "

"Let's go, I don't want to be here when it fully engulfs his mind," Suzaku said to Gino.

" _Nunnally… Nunnally…_ "

* * *

Suzaku and Gino left the room and shut the door, but the room was not sound proof, and as they stood out in the corridor, Lelouch began to scream!

" _NUNNALLY! NOOOOOOOOO! DON'T DIE! SUZAKU, SAVE HER! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T LET ANY HARM COME TO HER… YOU PROMISED!"_

Suzaku knew Lelouch was conjuring up different ways he feared Nunnally would die. It was his greatest fear. And she was truly the only thing Lelouch lived for. This will play heavily on his psyche, and in the end, Lelouch'll beg to have his memories erased, or fear reliving those hallucinations over and over again even without the drug. It was Catch-22. And Suzaku knew it.

Gino smirked, and folded his arms across his chest. "Be honest with me, Suzaku, you're savouring this just a little, aren't you?" Suzaku didn't answer. "That girl you told me about, Lelouch's older sister...you cared about her deeply, didn't you? This is payback, isn't it?"

Lelouch, as Zero, murdered Euphie on stage during the USJ gathering. Afterwards, Suzaku followed Lelouch all the way to Kamine Island and captured him risking his life. He was aware of the circumstances, and Lelouch's Geass may have played an unwilling role in Euphie's death, but he still couldn't get over it, not yet. He still had deep hated for his friend for what he did.

Euphie was a kind and caring person, and being with her made Suzaku happy for the first time in his life. When she died, it was like his heart shattered in two.

She had given him a new lease on life and delivered him out from a state of depression that would otherwise result in his own destruction—the guilt of killing his father, and the ever urge to storm into battle, and end his own life, was a subconscious effort to repent. But she taught him life was precious and it was not to be thrown away on the whim.

_We are all born for a reason, even though we may never know the purpose,_ she once said to him. _And the world has something special planned for you, so smile every day._

She gave his life purpose again and gave it hope, and love. He feared he may never smile again. And this is why he harboured such a deep resentment for his friend at the moment, because Lelouch had taken away his smile. However sentimental that may seem.

But was Gino right? In going along with this, did he want to inflict pain on Lelouch? To see him suffer for the pain Lelouch had inflicted on him? Was that normal? It was called revenge, Gino had explained to him, and it was only natural. But time healed all wounds, some sooner than others and some never at all. So was he savouring this? _Maybe just a little_ , he thought.

"Shut up, Gino! Just shut the hell up," he replied.

Gino chuckled. "I like you," he said, and then put an arm around Suzaku's shoulders and lead him down the corridor, and away from Lelouch's screams. "You're going to make a good Knight of the Round once you rid yourself of all this ethical repression. Come, let's go have some tea."

Suzaku nodded, as Lelouch continued his screams.

The Emperor was indeed a cruel hearted man, and Karma was his bedded mistress. But Karma was everyone's bedded mistress. It always had its way of coming back to you for your misdeeds. And Lelouch had much to repent for…

Yet again, so did Suzaku…

**END**


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